Refining....

A few years ago, the preacher @ our church, who had been there for many years, led a kind of revolt and basically extorted our church for alot of money, saying if we didn't give him what he wanted, he would leave and take a large portion of our congregation w/ him. I was so proud of the leadership at the time because they refused to be manipulated and told him (in as loving a way as possible) to go right ahead. He made good on his threat, leaving and taking a good number of our members with him. The resulting split was devastating to our church and did untold damage to lots of families. I wondered at the time if we could ever recover, it seemed we were wounded beyond repair. But nothing, I found out, is ever wounded beyond repair for God. In fact, in retrospect, I see how God was working in that situation. The old preacher had to be removed as well as some of the members he took w/ him, in order for God's plan to begin to unfold for our church and its mission in downtown amarillo. To actually take the gospel to the hurting people that were literally w/in yards of our church. We were so fortunate that God chose a special man to be the pulpit minister for this new season in our church history. Dan Bouchelle has been our preacher ever since "the split" and God laid on his heart thru the Holy Spirit, the new mission He had planned for our church. I have never EVER heard a preacher like Dan, the HS works thru him in ways I have never experienced before. His sermons cut me to the heart, which is a good thing. If you try to compliment him, though, he totally deflects any praise from himself and gives it to God. Which is as it should be. I thank God for what He is doing thru this man. Dan is so transparent about his struggles and failures, it makes me realize that "Hey, he struggles w/ the same things I do. " So, I try to give all the glory to God and not elevate Dan to an exalted position that he could never possibly live up to. He is a man, that God is speaking thru to reach a hurting world. My point in saying all this is to say you have GOT to listen to his sermon from Sunday, April 6th. It can be found at amarillocentral.org. Well, I don't guess you've GOT to, but it would be well worth your time. It concerns the politics that seem to consume the airwaves these days. It seems like alot of Christians are putting faith in the political system to change our world/country, when the ONLY one who can do that is God Himself, thru Christ Jesus. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that we, as Christians don't have the luxury of sitting out the political process. I believe it is my duty to vote, and I do. Too many brave patriots have given their very lives for that right. I don't take it for granted. I also have my opinions about who is the best candidate, which I won't go into here. I also believe it is my duty to pray for our leaders, whatever political party they happen to be. I believe our leaders, especially the President, deserve respect, whether I agree with them politically or not. They deserve not to be ridiculed and called names, i.e.liar, stupid, etc, etc. But, I think that our greatest calling as Christians is to change the world by "being Jesus" to the people we come into contact with every day. Basically, changing the world from the "bottom up", not the other way around. Which is what Dan said yesterday, only much more eloquently. Actually, it's what Jesus said too, only not in those exact words. So...... check it out.
On another note, the book I am reading, Isaac's Storm, is going pretty slow, laying the groundwork for how weather is forecast, kind of dull stuff. But now, about half way through, it is finally getting around to why the Galveston storm in 1900 was a such a surprise with so much loss of life (estimates of 6,000-10,000 lives lost). It addresses the hubris that existed at the turn of the last century concerning man's mastery of weather. Basically the "Titanic Mindset", very interesting. I'll keep you posted.